Laos up's and downs

bsacbob · Feb 28, 2013

A few pictures from a trip with a couple of guy's in Northern Laos.

Ferry crossing on the way to Hongsa

Powder sand claims a victim

This steep downhill on the 4B caught us all out, rainfall ahead of us on the track made this section a nightmare

Candy time for the kid's

Cute village girl

River crossing notice all the kids hoping for a show !

Luang Prabang Market

Wooden bridge on the way to Phonsavan 5K kip

We opted for water on this one, the wooden bridge was on it's last legs, new concrete bridge out of shot almost complete

Isolated village, but not for long power is on the way

Beautiful village girl

Not so.

Highway robbery Laos style 100 thousand kip each, but we had no option and she knew it

More water on route to Phonsavan

Carrying reads for making brushes

brian_bkk · Feb 28, 2013

Great pics.. Looks like you had a great time.

That powder is tricky stuff.. On our trip early this week we hit a few early patches on the way up from the Mekong to Muang Feung..
Nothing as heavy as in your pics.. Hate it on the corners as by the time you spot it, too late.

Looks like you did some of the same track to Phonsavn to LPQ in December.. but the other way around..
Remember the wonky bridge too, didn't think twice to ride over it and took the water crossing.

Cheers
Brian

TonyBKK · Feb 28, 2013

Great pics! Just back from Laos, first time touring there with dirt bike, can't wait to go back! :happy1:

Moto-Rex · Mar 1, 2013

Nice photos of the riding, and the village life Bob.

Thanks for the write up.

Moto-Rex

bsacbob · Mar 3, 2013

brake034;288132 wrote: What happened to the pictures of your original post Bob?

I dunno, maybe Interpol seized them or maybe Photobucket has issues, i am sure you will come to your own conclusions .

TonyBKK · Mar 4, 2013

Photobucket sucks ****. They were "ok" before, but the new photobucket is just terrible. I'm going back to the old method and hosting pics on my own server.

Moto-Rex · Mar 4, 2013

I gave up with Photobucket. Ive started using "imgur" which is much better.

www.imgur.com

brian_bkk · Mar 4, 2013

I can see the pics on my laptop, but could not earlier on my phone..

Did you change any of the file structure that may have caused the URL to change?

Not so familiar with Photobucket.. Started using that after FB screwed up everything with new URL's for all pics.
Mostly I find it OK, just when using my Mac with Flash it sucks. On the PC is fine

Cheers
Brian

TonyBKK · Mar 4, 2013

Moto-Rex;288135 wrote: I gave up with Photobucket. Ive started using "imgur" which is much better.

www.imgur.com

Thanks for the link Rex, Imgur looks promising! :happy1:

TonyBKK · Mar 4, 2013

brian_bkk;288139 wrote: I can see the pics on my laptop, but could not earlier on my phone..

Did you change any of the file structure that may have caused the URL to change?

Not so familiar with Photobucket.. Started using that after FB screwed up everything with new URL's for all pics.
Mostly I find it OK, just when using my Mac with Flash it sucks. On the PC is fine

Cheers
Brian

Sorry for off-topic rant, but the biggest problem (and there are many) with the "new" Photobucket is, imo, the new bandwidth restrictions they've placed on all accounts. Of course they want you to pay to upgrade to a pro account, but even the pro accounts have restrictions that vary depending on how much you pay.
Folks who bought pro accounts with the promise of unlimited storage are now being hit up for more money.
Considering all the other FREE photo-hosting alternatives I think Photobucket is shooting themselves in the foot. Judging from all the complaints on the interwebs I'm not alone in my opinion- http://amplicate.com/hate/photobucket
Reckon Photobucket's meltdown will be good for all the competitors like Picasa, Flikr, SmugMug, Imageshack, etc.

brian_bkk · Mar 4, 2013

TonyBKK;288141 wrote: Sorry for off-topic rant, but the biggest problem (and there are many) with the "new" Photobucket is, imo, the new bandwidth restrictions they've placed on all accounts. Of course they want you to pay to upgrade to a pro account, but even the pro accounts have restrictions that vary depending on how much you pay.
Folks who bought pro accounts with the promise of unlimited storage are now being hit up for more money.
Considering all the other FREE photo-hosting alternatives I think Photobucket is shooting themselves in the foot. Judging from all the complaints on the interwebs I'm not alone in my opinion- http://amplicate.com/hate/photobucket
Reckon Photobucket's meltdown will be good for all the competitors like Picasa, Flikr, SmugMug, Imageshack, etc.

Keeping off topic

Must have uploaded 70 pics yesterday may be more.. No issues.. Only issue was the bloody flash on Apple..
When I click the arrow key to move to the next pic.. it comes up blank, so I have to navigate through the albums again. On my PC with Flash it works fine..
Both Mac and PC using the latest flash.. Much better than FB as when I was uploading those.. It keeps hanging if you do more than 4 or 5 pics and start over again...

We base these things on our own personal experiences. Will check out Rex's link too.. but some where at some time.. These companies need to make money..

Cheers
Brian

TonyBKK · Mar 4, 2013

brian_bkk;288142 wrote: Keeping off topic
Must have uploaded 70 pics yesterday may be more.. No issues.. Only issue was the bloody flash on Apple..
When I click the arrow key to move to the next pic.. it comes up blank, so I have to navigate through the albums again. On my PC with Flash it works fine..
Both Mac and PC using the latest flash.. Much better than FB as when I was uploading those.. It keeps hanging if you do more than 4 or 5 pics and start over again...

We base these things on our own personal experiences. Will check out Rex's link too.. but some where at some time.. These companies need to make money..

Cheers
Brian

Just be aware that if you don't have a paid account you are going to run into storage and bandwidth restrictions. All my Photobucket pics are currently invisible due to the new bandwidth restrictions.
The old photobucket already made plenty of money on pro accounts, advertising and all of their paid services like photo printing, books, etc. In an ill conceived attempt to fatten the bottom line they've pretty much ruined the site. Just signed up for Imgur and so far am quite impressed.

brian_bkk · Mar 4, 2013

OK, Storage would be a pain..
B/W should only affect your speed when uploading.. Internet in Thailand is painfully slow enough as is.. with out being slower..

Lets un hijack the thread

TonyBKK · Mar 4, 2013

brian_bkk;288145 wrote: OK, Storage would be a pain..
B/W should only affect your speed when uploading.. Internet in Thailand is painfully slow enough as is.. with out being slower..

Lets un hijack the thread

Sorry if I was unclear.

What I mean is, Photobucket now imposes a bandwidth limit on your account. If your pictures get too many views Photobucket will hide your pictures. Instead of ppl seeing your pictures they'll see this:

And you'll see this message on your account:

brian_bkk · Mar 4, 2013

That is really crap.. Wasn't aware of that... Thought you meant the upload B/W speed was throttled.

Will check out Rex's.. But guess once that becomes too popular.. away we go again..

Cheers
Brian

bsacbob · Mar 4, 2013

brian_bkk;288139 wrote: I can see the pics on my laptop, but could not earlier on my phone..

Did you change any of the file structure that may have caused the URL to change?

Not so familiar with Photobucket.. Started using that after FB screwed up everything with new URL's for all pics.
Mostly I find it OK, just when using my Mac with Flash it sucks. On the PC is fine

Cheers
Brian

Sorry guy's not sure whats happening, i can see all the pictures i put up when viewing the post on my Mac, first time using Photobucket and probably the last. Will try harder next time.

bsacbob · Mar 4, 2013

Hope your enjoying this report.

Day five kicked off with the usual baguettes to go, leaving Jay to rest up for another day in LPB, well he is 70 (yes 70) and you have to make allowances. We planned to meet up in Nong Khiaw the next day as we rode to Phonsavan on a new trail for me, i had two options planned, one heading south before the Nam Teu crossing and the other heading up towards the old airstrip.

This track was a blast with more river crossing than you could shake a stick at and for me the direction was perfect allowing us to ease into the trail following the power pole guy's and eventually passing them and riding the original trail.

We did have to stop a couple of times while the road was cleared.

Nice to see these guy's still working.

This was the only wooden bridge we dared cross.

Wonder how long how long this toll will last.

New bridge already near completion.

First of many crossings.

And more

Well as least the bikes and our kit had a good wash, finally it was beer and baguette time.

Some shots in the village.

It soon became apparent how remote our location was.

Candy time in another village.

Interesting faces and people.

We finally got beyond the the power pole guy's.

But not the river crossings !

And the expectant audience.

Remote settlement.

We reached the small ferry crossing and was greeted by the buxom lady in red...i will be asking questions on this picture later !!!!

I asked her the price and at first i ignored her and we considered trying to ride the bikes across but it was too late in the day and the water was running pretty fast. I guess she's played this game so many times, i tried writing numbers in the sand in an effort to haggle but it was a waste of time she had us by the ball and she know it.

Having crossed, dry for once we thought we had seen the last of river crossings but no.

This section proved to be the deepest riding across the river and then downstream and back across.

What proved to be the of the water in this colourful jungle area.

Soon after this we emerged into a totally different landscape.

The temperature had dropped dramatically and it was blowing a gale, it was like riding across the Pennines back home, we came across the old American traffic control tower.

We soon hit the highway after this point and onto Phonsavan in almost darkness and checked in the Dokkhoune Hotel on the main street for the night.It had been a long day but one i shall remember, so many smiling faces along the way, sadly the coming of the power lines will change things, maybe for the better. I doubt it.

So did you spot the half naked lady with the lady in red ? Sadly i had a shit load of pictures of her but they have vanished :wink:

Lakota · Mar 5, 2013

I found the offroad sections to be less tiring than the onroad sections personally.

Its the Bike recovery that zaps the energy. recovering 3 bikes down a mountain and walking back up to get the next in the midday sun is a Killer. If one of the other Guys was to sustain a minor injury then it gets even worse.

We were unlucky with the rain shower that caught us out, the conditions immediately after rain always seem to be worst before it has time to soak in otherwise it would have been a walk in the park.

Most Guys who ride regularly seem to be 'bike fit' anyway, so its not a problem. but saying that I'm going to work on my fitness before the next big trip anyway, it's not as though you can walk to the next village and get help from a Guy with a pickup just after necking a bottle of sponsor from 7-11. There are no pickups or shops in the next village and its 30-40k away.

Chiang Mai ED · Mar 5, 2013

Hi Brake I would not be too concerned about the off road in Laos I am 63 just done 3000 km from CM up into Laos and return the dirt is somewhat better than the roads that are half black and half dirt as you get lots of loose cobble's as dirt goes back to black ,its like riding on marbles I have not been "bike fit" for over 30 years Lot of dirt is "fast dirt" with exception of some patches of bull dust We did the 90 km of fast dirt from close to Nong Khiew to Na Son at Vietnam border it was good and fast 2 hrs each way for the 90 km just watch for buses filling the road and dusting you out . Pal I am 63 if I can do it , I m sure you can do it no matter how stuffed you are